Should Russia join the US Missile defense System?

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday offered to set up a joint Russian-US anti-missile base to end a crisis between the two countries as Group of Eight leaders agreed a face-saving compromise on climate change.

.......Russia's stand was that the US needed to scrap its anti-missile plan and switch to an alternative joint project involving Russia and other countries. This could help lift Russia's concerns that the shield would be used against it, Lavrov said. Meanwhile, consultations between Russia and the US are still underway in Washington D.C.

NATO leaders have agreed to endorse US plans to build a missile defence system in eastern Europe and to urge Russia to drop its objections to the shield, American officials said last night.

The Kremlin also opposes a U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic to offset a potential threat from Iran. Moscow is expressing fear the system could eliminate Russia's strategic deterrent. An alternative Kremlin plan includes a joint Russian-American missile defense radar in Azerbaijan. American officials have been cool to this idea. The United States has proposed delaying activation of the Central European sites until Iran demonstrated evidence of a genuine missile threat. The United States also offered Russia access to the sites